


Tomato Sauce Pasta

by yukirei



Category: Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2
Genre: Gen, Past Fic, family fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 18:07:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2279559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukirei/pseuds/yukirei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At thirteen Julius gets another watch, at fifteen it's not just a watch anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomato Sauce Pasta

**Author's Note:**

> has spoiler-y bits if you haven't played the game and for the perfect guide stuff.
> 
> also i hate this game. i hate chap 15. i hate these brothers. i also now cry at the sight of tomatoes, thank you fucking julius and ludger.

At first it was just the watch, Ludger wasn't really anything more than the bearer of a watch that had better potential than him. He was barely a brother but Julius wouldn't leave even a complete stranger at the mercy of Bisley so he takes Ludger with him when he runs, this small silver haired five year old that looks at him with trust he doesn't deserve. He helps with altering the family tree so that there's no trace of Ludger's existence, it's the least that he could do for someone innocent in all this.

Somewhere between his thirteenth year and fifteenth one, he watches over Ludger grow up. Ludger is quiet, never speaking unless he has something to say but despite the silence that follows his small form, he's full of life. Bright blue eyes always curiously peering at something, tracking words, absorbing information. The darkness of the Kresniks has left him alone, their claws too far away to pop the bubble of normalcy that surrounds him like they did with Julius' life.

Julius feels the edge of resentment for his brother that looks at him with care and trust, ignorant of the despair and desperation that hounds at them. He pushes it away, buries it under obligation and survival but it claws at him in still times and Julius clutches at the gold pocket watch as if it's his own.

He's barely keeping up with work as a Spirius agent when he comes home one night, wondering if it's too late to order take out, if Ludger's asleep, if he could tide the hunger over until tomorrow morning and he can get an extra helping from his favorite diner.

He doesn't expect opening the door to the apartment and being greeted with the stale scent of something charred. His heart thuds in his chest hard until he realizes there's no fire and no thick cloud of smoke. He calls out Ludger's name and his brother comes barreling in front of him, wearing a stained apron that's much too long and a wide smile that's much too bright. In his hands is a plate of...something.

He stares at it, then at Ludger's waiting eyes.

"What..." He starts hesitantly, unsure if his uncertainty at the identity of the dish would be offensive. "...is it?"

It's not apparently because his question opens the dam and Ludger starts to explain that it's tomato sauce pasta, freshly made from actual tomato and stuff, not like the unhealthy take outs that they usually get. Ludger turns and heads to the table to put the dish down and Julius follows, a little bemused, closing the door behind him.

Ludger pulls the chair away and looks at him pointedly, waiting until Julius is seated before he scrambles up on the other seat. Julius looks at the pasta that really looks more like noodles drowning in red soup with bits of hopefully edible things bobbing on the surface and wonders if he'll have to suck it up and eat everything.

Ludger doesn't stop at explaining what the dish is, he tells Julius that since he's a working Spirius agent now, he needed to eat better because his teacher said that healthy food equals healthy life and Julius needed a healthy life if he was going to work so hard. Julius glances at him then, small hands catching in his peripherals before he shifts his gaze to them completely; they're covered in band-aids and he can see angry lines of red peeking under some of them. He blinks when they fold over each other, trying to hide the wounds. He looks back up and Ludger is still smiling at him.

He swallows and turns back to the plate in front of him and takes a bite; the noodles are a little undercooked, the sauce a touch bit too runny but it's good, better than what he's expecting. Kind of like Ludger, actually.

He remembers a time when Ludger was nothing more than a bearer of a watch, barely a brother and dragged along because of sympathy and pity. But that time has long passed and Ludger is more than just a watch now, he's a brother that Julius will protect at any cost.


End file.
